My entry into ayurveda, and to Dr. Girija. A relationship of 25 years standing to date. Which has benefited the village also infinitely.
About 25 years ago, I had a very bad catch in the chest. I did my yoga more vigourously hoping the catch would loosen, and it worsened. An allopathic doctor friend wanted me to get done ECGs. I knew of Dr. Girija, and called her. She told me to stop all dals, and to stop my yoga, and simply bathe with Dhanvantramtailam liberally. I asked her what would happen to my protien intake if I gave up dals, and she said nothing would happen. I became well.
Then i developed a tumour which grew rapidly, was painlesss, was tethered to the skin and was cold to touch. My friend who was an allopathic doctor examined it, and demanded a biopsy as all these clinical symptoms were bad. I went to Dr. Girija who took the case on, and in days the tumour reduced, and was sorted out.
Soon afterwards I had a typhoid attack, and definitely not planning to use the allopathic typhoid medicines, I went to her. I was cured.
My chikungunya, my malarial fever, my daughte's and husbands problems were all resolved here.
And my personal relationship with ayurveda, and with the doctor got established firmly, and became deeper with passing years.
That the doctor's commitment to ayurveda was rooted in a deeper commitment to society and the problems therein took the doctor patient relationship into a deeper friendship.
And over years a village I had settled in has slowly and surely gained vastly because of their relationship with her and with Ayurveda.
And in today's times, ayurveda, and doctors of impeccable pedigre, learning, perspective and compassion like hers is what can yet save us. Her article on the first of many patients.
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My ayurvedic doctor had complete faith in the common people and their established local practices. At every point when I called her up from the village with a crisis, she would ask me to ask my neighbours first. And with her faith and confidence, i went ahead, and also discovered the depth of wisdom and skills in medical care in our villages.
1. our daughter used to eat mud as a child. As we lived in a mud house the walls and floor were there for her consumption. My neighbours said that if the child ate mud it would lead to paandu (anaemia). That is also the theory in ayurveda. Their answer was giving the child a little of cow urine from a 'tharifu' (heifer - mature calf). That will 'prevent the mud from sticking to the intestines.' I did that.
2. When our daughter at one year had red inflammed eyes, a neighbour instilled breast milk into the eyes. This, they say, is the best for eyes. It works wonderfully. I have also had the same done. Ayurveda also validates the practice.
3. When we were planting cactus around the house for a live fence, the next morning we both got up with faces so puffed up that we could not even open our eyes. The milk of the plant has that effect we were later told. Our neighbours told us to daub cowdung over our faces, and in some time the infalmmation came down. Cowdung in medicinal, and as per ayurveda reduces the effects of poison.
... and these were just some beginnings of many treatments, many learnings. And alongside a deeper and deeper understanding of villages and wisdom.
... and it was later I realized what a seminal role our doctor had played in our growth and learnings in the village, way beyond just the medical.
To establish anything needs hard work, total commitment and unswerving attention.
I was 30 when I had a tumour that was clinically wrong on all counts, and my allopathic friends asked me to take a biopsy. I simply went to my ayurvedic doctor, Dr. Girija, - she would have been 42 then - and put the case in her hands. She took it on with total commitment, and systematically based on the study of the texts, worked through it. The tumour came down in size and got resolved. Today I realise what a huge responsibility I placed in her hands that day, that she took on as her duty and addressed.
A few years later her husband had a massive stroke when he was driving, and some workers outside responded and took him to an allopathic hospital. She came and got him discharged 'against medical advice', and treated him in the ayurvedic hospital. He recovered well and fast.
But the rigourous learning that has been part of the discipline to deliver with clarity is the issue. Today down the years I have seen case after case handled with the same clarity, and confidence - from heart attacks, to epilepsy, to falling platelet couts, to ascitis, to psoriasis, to leucoderma, to tumours, to haemophilia.
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